judicial system: Supreme Court, justices are elected for eight-year terms by the Legislative Assembly

religion: Catholic majority

death row:

year of last executions: 0-0-0

death sentences: 0

executions: 0

international treaties on human rights and the death penalty:

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

1st Optional Protocol to the Covenant

Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (aiming to the abolition of the death penalty)

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

American Convention on Human Rights

Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to abolish the Death Penalty

Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture

Statute of the International Criminal Court (which excludes the death penalty)

situation:Costa Rica has been abolitionist since 1887. It was among the first countries to abolish the death penalty, after Venezuela (1863) and San Marino (1865).
The Constitution of the Republic of Costa Rica states at Art. 21: "Human life is inviolable." Art. 21 is included under Title IV "Individual Rights and Guarantees." In matter of extradition from Costa Rica, assurances must be secured from the requesting country that the individual will not be subject to either capital punishment or life imprisonment.
On December 19, 2016, Costa Rica co-sponsored and voted again in favour of the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.

Hands off Cain is an international league of citizens and parliamentarians for the abolition of the death penalty in the world. It is a non-profit, non-violent, transnational and trans-national Partito Radicale founded in Brussels in 1993 and recognized in 2005 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a development co-operation NGO.